A Game of Thrones Chapter Six

Catelyn Of all the rooms in Winterfell's Great Keep, Catelyn's bedchambers were the hottest. She seldom had to light a fire. The castle had been built over natural hot springs, and the scalding waters rushed through its walls and chambers like blood through a man's body, driving the chill from the stone halls, filling the glass gardens with a moist warmth, keeping the earth from freezing. Open pools smoked day and night in a dozen small courtyards. That was a little thing, in summer; in winter, it was the difference between life and death. Catelyn's bath was always hot and steaming, and her walls warm to the touch. The warmth reminded her of Riverrun, of days in the sun with Lysa and Edmure, but Ned could never abide the heat. The Starks were made for the cold, he would tell her, and she would laugh and tell him in that case they had certainly built their castle in the wrong place. So when they had finished, Ned rolled off and climbed from her bed, as he had a thousand times before. He crossed the room, pulled back the heavy tapestries, and threw open the high narrow windows one by one, letting the night air into the chamber. The wind swirled around him as he stood facing the dark, naked and empty-handed. Catelyn pulled the furs to her chin and watched him. He looked somehow smaller and more vulnerable, like the youth she had wed in the sept at Riverrun, fifteen long years gone. Her loins still ached from the urgency of his lovemaking. It was a good ache. She could feel his seed within her. She prayed that it might quicken there. It had been three years since Rickon. She was not too old. She could give him another son. â€Å"I will refuse him,† Ned said as he turned back to her. His eyes were haunted, his voice thick with doubt. Catelyn sat up in the bed. â€Å"You cannot. You must not.† â€Å"My duties are here in the north. I have no wish to be Robert's Hand.† â€Å"He will not understand that. He is a king now, and kings are not like other men. If you refuse to serve him, he will wonder why, and sooner or later he will begin to suspect that you oppose him. Can't you see the danger that would put us in?† Ned shook his head, refusing to believe. â€Å"Robert would never harm me or any of mine. We were closer than brothers. He loves me. If I refuse him, he will roar and curse and bluster, and in a week we will laugh about it together. I know the man!† â€Å"You knew the man,† she said. â€Å"The king is a stranger to you.† Catelyn remembered the direwolf dead in the snow, the broken antler lodged deep in her throat. She had to make him see. â€Å"Pride is everything to a king, my lord. Robert came all this way to see you, to bring you these great honors, you cannot throw them back in his face.† â€Å"Honors?† Ned laughed bitterly. â€Å"In his eyes, yes,† she said. â€Å"And in yours?† â€Å"And in mine,† she blazed, angry now. Why couldn't he see? â€Å"He offers his own son in marriage to our daughter, what else would you call that? Sansa might someday be queen. Her sons could rule from the Wall to the mountains of Dorne. What is so wrong with that?† â€Å"Gods, Catelyn, Sansa is only eleven,† Ned said. â€Å"And Joffrey . . . Joffrey is . . . â€Å" She finished for him. † . . . crown prince, and heir to the Iron Throne. And I was only twelve when my father promised me to your brother Brandon.† That brought a bitter twist to Ned's mouth. â€Å"Brandon. Yes. Brandon would know what to do. He always did. It was all meant for Brandon. You, Winterfell, everything. He was born to be a King's Hand and a father to queens. I never asked for this cup to pass to me.† â€Å"Perhaps not,† Catelyn said, â€Å"but Brandon is dead, and the cup has passed, and you must drink from it, like it or not.† Ned turned away from her, back to the night. He stood staring out in the darkness, watching the moon and the stars perhaps, or perhaps the sentries on the wall. Catelyn softened then, to see his pain. Eddard Stark had married her in Brandon's place, as custom decreed, but the shadow of his dead brother still lay between them, as did the other, the shadow of the woman he would not name, the woman who had borne him his bastard son. She was about to go to him when the knock came at the door, loud and unexpected. Ned turned, frowning. â€Å"What is it?† Desmond's voice came through the door. â€Å"My lord, Maester Luwin is without and begs urgent audience.† â€Å"You told him I had left orders not to be disturbed?† â€Å"Yes, my lord. He insists.† â€Å"Very well. Send him in.† Ned crossed to the wardrobe and slipped on a heavy robe. Catelyn realized suddenly how cold it had become. She sat up in bed and pulled the furs to her chin. â€Å"Perhaps we should close the windows,† she suggested. Ned nodded absently. Maester Luwin was shown in. The maester was a small grey man. His eyes were grey, and quick, and saw much. His hair was grey, what little the years had left him. His robe was grey wool, trimmed with white fur, the Stark colors. Its great floppy sleeves had pockets hidden inside. Luwin was always tucking things into those sleeves and producing other things from them: books, messages, strange artifacts, toys for the children. With all he kept hidden in his sleeves, Catelyn was surprised that Maester Luwin could lift his arms at all. The maester waited until the door had closed behind him before he spoke. â€Å"My lord,† he said to Ned, â€Å"pardon for disturbing your rest. I have been left a message.† Ned looked irritated. â€Å"Been left? By whom? Has there been a rider? I was not told.† â€Å"There was no rider, my lord. Only a carved wooden box, left on a table in my observatory while I napped. My servants saw no one, but it must have been brought by someone in the king's party. We have had no other visitors from the south.† â€Å"A wooden box, you say?† Catelyn said. â€Å"Inside was a fine new lens for the observatory, from Myr by the look of it. The lenscrafters of Myr are without equal.† Ned frowned. He had little patience for this sort of thing, Catelyn knew. â€Å"A lens,† he said. â€Å"What has that to do with me?† â€Å"I asked the same question,† Maester Luwin said. â€Å"Clearly there was more to this than the seeming.† Under the heavy weight of her furs, Catelyn shivered. â€Å"A lens is an instrument to help us see.† â€Å"Indeed it is.† He fingered the collar of his order; a heavy chain worn tight around the neck beneath his robe, each link forged from a different metal. Catelyn could feel dread stirring inside her once again. â€Å"What is it that they would have us see more clearly?† â€Å"The very thing I asked myself.† Maester Luwin drew a tightly rolled paper out of his sleeve. â€Å"I found the true message concealed within a false bottom when I dismantled the box the lens had come in, but it is not for my eyes.† Ned held out his hand. â€Å"Let me have it, then.† Luwin did not stir. â€Å"Pardons, my lord. The message is not for you either. It is marked for the eyes of the Lady Catelyn, and her alone. May I approach?† Catelyn nodded, not trusting to speak. The maester placed the paper on the table beside the bed. It was sealed with a small blob of blue wax. Luwin bowed and began to retreat. â€Å"Stay,† Ned commanded him. His voice was grave. He looked at Catelyn. â€Å"What is it? My lady, you're shaking.† â€Å"I'm afraid,† she admitted. She reached out and took the letter in trembling hands. The furs dropped away from her nakedness, forgotten. In the blue wax was the moon-and-falcon seal of House Arryn. â€Å"It's from Lysa.† Catelyn looked at her husband. â€Å"It will not make us glad,† she told him. â€Å"There is grief in this message, Ned. I can feel it.† Ned frowned, his face darkening. â€Å"Open it.† Catelyn broke the seal. Her eyes moved over the words. At first they made no sense to her. Then she remembered. â€Å"Lysa took no chances. When we were girls together, we had a private language, she and I.† â€Å"Can you read it?† â€Å"Yes,† Catelyn admitted. â€Å"Then tell us.† â€Å"Perhaps I should withdraw,† Maester Luwin said. â€Å"No,† Catelyn said. â€Å"We will need your counsel.† She threw back the furs and climbed from the bed. The night air was as cold as the grave on her bare skin as she padded across the room. Maester Luwin averted his eyes. Even Ned looked shocked. â€Å"What are you doing?† he asked. â€Å"Lighting a fire,† Catelyn told him. She found a dressing gown and shrugged into it, then knelt over the cold hearth. â€Å"Maester Luwin—† Ned began. â€Å"Maester Luwin has delivered all my children,† Catelyn said. â€Å"This is no time for false modesty.† She slid the paper in among the kindling and placed the heavier logs on top of it. Ned crossed the room, took her by the arm, and pulled her to her feet. He held her there, his face inches from her. â€Å"My lady, tell me! What was this message?† Catelyn stiffened in his grasp. â€Å"A warning,† she said softly. â€Å"If we have the wits to hear.† His eyes searched her face. â€Å"Go on.† â€Å"Lysa says Jon Arryn was murdered.† His fingers tightened on her arm. â€Å"By whom?† â€Å"The Lannisters,† she told him. â€Å"The queen.† Ned released his hold on her arm. There were deep red marks on her skin. â€Å"Gods,† he whispered. His voice was hoarse. â€Å"Your sister is sick with grief. She cannot know what she is saying.† â€Å"She knows,† Catelyn said. â€Å"Lysa is impulsive, yes, but this message was carefully planned, cleverly hidden. She knew it meant death if her letter fell into the wrong hands. To risk so much, she must have had more than mere suspicion.† Catelyn looked to her husband. â€Å"Now we truly have no choice. You must be Robert's Hand. You must go south with him and learn the truth.† She saw at once that Ned had reached a very different conclusion. â€Å"The only truths I know are here. The south is a nest of adders I would do better to avoid.† Luwin plucked at his chain collar where it had chafed the soft skin of his throat. â€Å"The Hand of the King has great power, my lord. Power to find the truth of Lord Arryn's death, to bring his killers to the king's justice. Power to protect Lady Arryn and her son, if the worst be true.† Ned glanced helplessly around the bedchamber. Catelyn's heart went out to him, but she knew she could not take him in her arms just then. First the victory must be won, for her children's sake. â€Å"You say you love Robert like a brother. Would you leave your brother surrounded by Lannisters?† â€Å"The Others take both of you,† Ned muttered darkly. He turned away from them and went to the window. She did not speak, nor did the maester. They waited, quiet, while Eddard Stark said a silent farewell to the home he loved. When he turned away from the window at last, his voice was tired and full of melancholy, and moisture glittered faintly in the corners of his eyes. â€Å"My father went south once, to answer the summons of a king. He never came home again.† â€Å"A different time,† Maester Luwin said. â€Å"A different king.† â€Å"Yes,† Ned said dully. He seated himself in a chair by the hearth. â€Å"Catelyn, you shall stay here in Winterfell.† His words were like an icy draft through her heart. â€Å"No,† she said, suddenly afraid. Was this to be her punishment? Never to see his face again, nor to feel his arms around her? â€Å"Yes,† Ned said, in words that would brook no argument. â€Å"You must govern the north in my stead, while I run Robert's errands. There must always be a Stark in Winterfell. Robb is fourteen. Soon enough, he will be a man grown. He must learn to rule, and I will not be here for him. Make him part of your councils. He must be ready when his time comes.† â€Å"Gods will, not for many years,† Maester Luwin murmured. â€Å"Maester Luwin, I trust you as I would my own blood. Give my wife your voice in all things great and small. Teach my son the things he needs to know. Winter is coming.† Maester Luwin nodded gravely. Then silence fell, until Catelyn found her courage and asked the question whose answer she most dreaded. â€Å"What of the other children?† Ned stood, and took her in his arms, and held her face close to his. â€Å"Rickon is very young,† he said gently. â€Å"He should stay here with you and Robb. The others I would take with me.† â€Å"I could not bear it,† Catelyn said, trembling. â€Å"You must,† he said. â€Å"Sansa must wed Joffrey, that is clear now, we must give them no grounds to suspect our devotion. And it is past time that Arya learned the ways of a southron court. In a few years she will be of an age to marry too.† Sansa would shine in the south, Catelyn thought to herself, and the gods knew that Arya needed refinement. Reluctantly, she let go of them in her heart. But not Bran. Never Bran. â€Å"Yes,† she said, â€Å"but please, Ned, for the love you bear me, let Bran remain here at Winterfell. He is only seven.† â€Å"I was eight when my father sent me to foster at the Eyrie,† Ned said. â€Å"Ser Rodrik tells me there is bad feeling between Robb and Prince Joffrey. That is not healthy. Bran can bridge that distance. He is a sweet boy, quick to laugh, easy to love. Let him grow up with the young princes, let him become their friend as Robert became mine. Our House will be the safer for it.† He was right; Catelyn knew it. It did not make the pain any easier to bear. She would lose all four of them, then: Ned, and both girls, and her sweet, loving Bran. Only Robb and little Rickon would be left to her. She felt lonely already. Winterfell was such a vast place. â€Å"Keep him off the walls, then,† she said bravely. â€Å"You know how Bran loves to climb.† Ned kissed the tears from her eyes before they could fall. â€Å"Thank you, my lady,† he whispered. â€Å"This is hard, I know.† â€Å"What of Jon Snow, my lord?† Maester Luwin asked. Catelyn tensed at the mention of the name. Ned felt the anger in her, and pulled away. Many men fathered bastards. Catelyn had grown up with that knowledge. It came as no surprise to her, in the first year of her marriage, to learn that Ned had fathered a child on some girl chance met on campaign. He had a man's needs, after all, and they had spent that year apart, Ned off at war in the south while she remained safe in her father's castle at Riverrun. Her thoughts were more of Robb, the infant at her breast, than of the husband she scarcely knew. He was welcome to whatever solace he might find between battles. And if his seed quickened, she expected he would see to the child's needs. He did more than that. The Starks were not like other men. Ned brought his bastard home with him, and called him â€Å"son† for all the north to see. When the wars were over at last, and Catelyn rode to Winterfell, Jon and his wet nurse had already taken up residence. That cut deep. Ned would not speak of the mother, not so much as a word, but a castle has no secrets, and Catelyn heard her maids repeating tales they heard from the lips of her husband's soldiers. They whispered of Ser Arthur Dayne, the Sword of the Morning, deadliest of the seven knights of Aerys's Kingsguard, and of how their young lord had slain him in single combat. And they told how afterward Ned had carried Ser Arthur's sword back to the beautiful young sister who awaited him in a castle called Starfall on the shores of the SummerSea. The Lady Ashara Dayne, tall and fair, with haunting violet eyes. It had taken her a fortnight to marshal her courage, but finally, in bed one night, Catelyn had asked her husband the truth of it, asked him to his face. That was the only time in all their years that Ned had ever frightened her. â€Å"Never ask me about Jon,† he said, cold as ice. â€Å"He is my blood, and that is all you need to know. And now I will learn where you heard that name, my lady.† She had pledged to obey; she told him; and from that day on, the whispering had stopped, and Ashara Dayne's name was never heard in Winterfell again. Whoever Jon's mother had been, Ned must have loved her fiercely, for nothing Catelyn said would persuade him to send the boy away. It was the one thing she could never forgive him. She had come to love her husband with all her heart, but she had never found it in her to love Jon. She might have overlooked a dozen bastards for Ned's sake, so long as they were out of sight. Jon was never out of sight, and as he grew, he looked more like Ned than any of the trueborn sons she bore him. Somehow that made it worse. â€Å"Jon must go,† she said now. â€Å"He and Robb are close,† Ned said. â€Å"I had hoped . . . â€Å" â€Å"He cannot stay here,† Catelyn said, cutting him off. â€Å"He is your son, not mine. I will not have him.† It was hard, she knew, but no less the truth. Ned would do the boy no kindness by leaving him here at Winterfell. The look Ned gave her was anguished. â€Å"You know I cannot take him south. There will be no place for him at court. A boy with a bastard's name . . . you know what they will say of him. He will be shunned.† Catelyn armored her heart against the mute appeal in her husband's eyes. â€Å"They say your friend Robert has fathered a dozen bastards himself.† â€Å"And none of them has ever been seen at court!† Ned blazed. â€Å"The Lannister woman has seen to that. How can you be so damnably cruel, Catelyn? He is only a boy. He—† His fury was on him. He might have said more, and worse, but Maester Luwin cut in. â€Å"Another solution presents itself,† he said, his voice quiet. â€Å"Your brother Benjen came to me about Jon a few days ago. It seems the boy aspires to take the black.† Ned looked shocked. â€Å"He asked to join the Night's Watch?† Catelyn said nothing. Let Ned work it out in his own mind; her voice would not be welcome now. Yet gladly would she have kissed the maester just then. His was the perfect solution. Benjen Stark was a Sworn Brother. Jon would be a son to him, the child he would never have. And in time the boy would take the oath as well. He would father no sons who might someday contest with Catelyn's own grandchildren for Winterfell. Maester Luwin said, â€Å"There is great honor in service on the Wall, my lord.† â€Å"And even a bastard may rise high in the Night's Watch,† Ned reflected. Still, his voice was troubled. â€Å"Jon is so young. If he asked this when he was a man grown, that would be one thing, but a boy of fourteen . . . â€Å" â€Å"A hard sacrifice,† Maester Luwin agreed. â€Å"Yet these are hard times, my lord. His road is no crueler than yours or your lady's.† Catelyn thought of the three children she must lose. It was not easy keeping silent then. Ned turned away from them to gaze out the window, his long face silent and thoughtful. Finally he sighed, and turned back. â€Å"Very well,† he said to Maester Luwin. â€Å"I suppose it is for the best. I will speak to Ben.† â€Å"When shall we tell Jon?† the maester asked. â€Å"When I must. Preparations must be made. It will be a fortnight before we are ready to depart. I would sooner let Jon enjoy these last few days. Summer will end soon enough, and childhood as well. When the time comes, I will tell him myself.†

Cromwells contribution was greater off the battlefield than on it Essay

â€Å"Cromwell’s contribution was greater off the battlefield than on it†. How far do you agree with this view of Cromwell’s role in the First Civil War? Many historians have argued that Cromwell’s rise to prominence was through his work during the First Civil War (1642-1646). This work can be split into two sections: on the battlefield and off the battlefield. On the battlefield, his main success came during the Battle of Marston Moor and Battle of Naseby, whilst off the battlefield he was instrumental in passing the Self-Denying Ordinance which created the path to victory for Parliament. Cromwell’s early military engagements in East Anglia had been relatively successful compared to other parliamentary generals during the first two years of the First Civil War. The Eastern Association, Cromwell’s army, were successful in several minor battles, namely Gainsborough, Winceby and Grantham. This prevented the Royalists from controlling Lincolnshire. These victories had provided much-needed propaganda for parliamentary newspapers, during a year in which the Royalists were clearly the stronger side. In addition, Cromwell also stopped the proclamation of the Royalist commission of array in Hertfordshire. However, it should be noted that these triumphs were trivial, and when placed in the context of the entire war its only function was to delay the southward march of the Earl of Newcastle’s army. Nevertheless, Cromwell’s prominence was enhanced significantly since he was the only parliamentary general to have any success in 1643. His other military successes in 1643 include establishing the northern frontier of the Eastern Association at the River Nene. The victory at Crowland Abbey entrenched parliamentary control in East Anglia, indicating that Cromwell was clearly successful in preventing Royalist forces from taking over Lincolnshire. Again, this had provided the Parliament Scout with propaganda. This propaganda gave Cromwell an increased military reputation, which helped him in the political arena during the latter years of the First Civil War. The Battle of Marston Moor, July 1644, changed Cromwell’s career both as a politician and a military general. Cromwell’s unique ability to regroup of his soldiers after attacking Byron’s cavalry in order to attack George Goring from the rear was the main catalyst for the victory. Although this battle did not decide the final fate of the First Civil War, it gave parliament hope and confidence; after the battle parliamentary soldiers were euphoric. This suggests that, just as in 1643, Cromwell’s military leadership not only resulted in victories but also increased the morale and confidence of the parliamentary army in general. Following this victory Cromwell’s political and military reputation were elevated to new heights. Whilst the Battle of Marston Moor was not the turning point in the First Civil War, the Battle of Naseby (June 1645) certainly was. Yet again, Cromwell was instrumental in winning the battle for parliament. Just like at Marston Moor, Cromwell’s horse was able to attack the Royalist from the rear, breaking the initial Royalist momentum. Since royalist infantry were either or slaughtered or surrendered, the King was never able to field a full size army again, implying that at Naseby Cromwell had effectively won the war for parliament. Furthermore, by capturing the King’s baggage train, Parliament were able to publish the details of the Charles’ correspondence with the Irish Catholics and hence giving Parliament more support from the people. Evidently, one can see that Cromwell was at the heart of the victory at Naseby, which ensured that parliament won the First Civil War. It may appear that all Cromwell’s military actions all resulted in victories. This is not the case. Even in 1643, Cromwell had some failures as a soldier. Although he was successful in East Anglia, he completely failed whenever he tried to participate in wider military engagements. By the summer of that year, his military position was as dire as other parliamentary generals, and thus was in no position to provide military support. Meanwhile, Cromwell’s military failures after Marston Moor include the Battle of Newbury and Battle of Donnington Castle. However, these failures were minor and did not have as much an impact as his victories. For instance, the Battle of Marston Moor was not decisive, so the loss at Donnington Castle did not mean that parliament lost the opportunity to win the war. On the other hand, Essex’s loss at Lostwithiel was much more consequential since it negated the advantage gained at Marston Moor. One might wonder whether if Essex had not lost at Lostwithiel, parliament would have won the war much earlier due to the advantage gained at Marston Moor. Therefore, Cromwell’s military failures are cancelled out by his more important successes. These military successes turned Cromwell into a parliamentary hero. As a result, he was able to advance his political influence. In the political arena, Cromwell was able to a more integral part than before the civil war. Cromwell’s main political achievements occurred in the Self-Denying Ordinance, in which he secured a pathway to victory for parliament. The Self-Denying Ordinance forbade any MP to hold an army command. This meant the likes of Manchester and Essex were forced to relieve their military commands. Consequently, the peace party lost control of parliament’s army, leaving the war party, who wanted outright victory first, in control of the army. This meant that the parliamentary army was united in its aims, implying that Cromwell had set the framework for parliament’s future military engagements. The Self-Denying Ordinance also allowed for the creation of the New Model Army, whose excellence was witnessed at the Battle of Naseby, again indicating Cromwell’s ability in the political arena. The Self-Denying Ordinance was not Cromwell’s only political accomplishment. In January 1644, Cromwell is involved in raising monthly assessments by 50%. This helped parliamentary finances which were in short supply. Cromwell also attacked many other parliamentary generals who he felt had played insignificant and incompetent roles in battles. All of these happened because of Cromwell’s increased political status, as seen by his position in the Committee of Both Kingdoms. Therefore, it seems that Cromwell played key roles in political events during the civil war. However, it is important to remember that the Self-Denying Ordinance was not devised by Cromwell but instead by his parliamentary allies, notably Viscount Saye and Sele. Although he was involved in its passage through parliament, Cromwell was merely the most prominent beneficiary. In parliament Cromwell was supported by at least 9 connections. Without these connections it could be argued that Cromwell would not have received such political importance. Furthermore, it was Cromwell’s military success that allowed him to be influential in parliament, thus implying that his political status was dependent upon his military prowess. His military triumphs also helped him when Essex and Denzil Holles debated whether or not to impeach him. They had decided not to proceed because of Cromwell’s military importance to the parliamentary army, suggesting that his military contribution cannot be replaced. In addition, before the First Civil War, Cromwell lacked many essential political skills as seen by many of his mistakes. Cromwell’s paucity of political aptitude is also seen when he attacks Manchester in November 1644. This attack split parliament into rival two factions: peace party and war party, which would have consequences after the war. Although Cromwell did try to unite the factions together, he was responsible for the breakout in the first place, thus implying a negative contribution off the battlefield. Therefore, one finds that Cromwell’s contribution off the battlefield is not as desirable as his military contribution. His political contribution alone could not have won the war for parliament, whereas his military contribution on its own could have won the war for parliament. In conclusion, Cromwell’s role on the battlefield and in the political arena cannot be underestimated; in both areas he was useful and helpful towards parliament’s cause. However, Cromwell’s role main role was on the battlefield where he led many parliamentary armies to victories in full-scale battles as well as minor skirmishes, which eventually ensured triumph for parliament over the king. These victories allowed him to acquire an increased status not only militarily but also politically, which gave him more influences in parliamentary affairs on and off the battlefield. Nevertheless, politically he did not architect any notable event, even the Self-Denying Ordinance wasn’t devised by Cromwell. On the other hand, militarily he guided a parliamentary side from near defeat in 1643 to victory three years later. Thus, this gives the impression that Cromwell’s contribution was greater on the battlefield.

Animal Rights (Tom Regan etc)

Animal rights is a very controversial issue with many different groups of people with differing opinions that want their voices on this issue heard. Many of these groups believe that animals have inherent value and deserve rights, and the majority of people believe this as well, but exactly which rights do they deserve. It is all well and good to say you are an advocate for animal rights, however the real issue here is exactly what rights are they entitled to? I will be evaluating Tom Regans view of animal rights that he sets out in The Case for Animal Rights (1992), in which he calls for an end to the use of animals in scientific experiments and commercial agriculture, and sets out what he believes animals are entitled to. I will also be examining opposing arguments from Carl Cohen (1986), who is very much on the opposite end of the spectrum, and believes that animals deserve no rights whatsoever. In â€Å"The Case for Animal Rights† (1992) Regan argues that all beings of consciousness have what he calls inherent value, which is value to themselves above the value of their usefulness to others. He uses the example of the genius and the retarded child. The value of the usefulness to society differs dramatically in these two individuals, but that does not mean that the life of one is of greater value than the other. You could not morally kill the retarded child in order to save the genius, as this moral theory does not allow for that to happen. All beings of consciousness possess equal inherent value and all have an equal right to be treated with respect and to not be treated in a way that degrades them to simply a thing a resource for others to use. This is what Regan calls the rights view. It denies all tolerability of racial, sexual or social discrimination, and opposes the view that the ends justify the means you cannot justify evil means, that violate an individuals rights, simply by achieving good results. If this moral theory condemns all use of racism, sexism and any other form of discrimination then, of course, it will also condemn speciesism discrimination based on species. Regan does not simply oppose battery hen farming, the conditions of veal farming, the tiny cages used for animals in medical and cosmetic testing and the conservative use of anaesthetics on animals being used for toxicity tests of cosmetics, he opposes the entire doctrine and way we look at animals as a whole. The rights view that Regan holds is abolitionist towards animal testing, for Lab animals are not our tasters; we are not their kings. (Regan 1992) These animals are constantly reduced to their usefulness to others, as they are seen as a renewable resource for us to have our way with and, without the means to object, there is no reason to stop. There is no thought whatsoever to their inherent value and the fact that their living conditions and whether they live or die is important to them. The fact it is important to them means something, according to the rights view. This brings us back to the genius and the retarded child example. If we reduced those two down to their usefulness to others we would have no trouble killing off the retarded child in order to retrieve information that could save the genius life. The problem is not many moral beings would be able to do that. The fact that they can do it to animals is blatant speciesism, which really should be as bad as racism and other forms of discrimination. An animal’s inherent value should be important to us because it is important to them. If we dont respect that then, in the eyes of the rights view, we are as bad as racist mobs lynching an African-American due to the colour of his skin. Regan suggests that the reason animals are perceived to have less value stems from the fact they lack our level of autonomy, reason or intellect. They cant have the same level of inherent value as humans do for those are some of the attributes that make us value human life as a whole. This version of the rights view is even more baseless than saying they have no rights at all, because we arent prepared to make the same call on humans who also lack normal levels of intellect, reason and autonomy. The truth is that those deficient humans, that lack those attributes to a degree, do not hold less value than the rest of us. Their life is still as important to them as our life is to us and we cannot justify saying that this is not the case. All beings who have inherent value have it equally and deserve to be treated as though their inherent value means something for, according to the rights view that I am explaining and evaluating, this is indeed the case. There are, of course, advocates of differing views and philosopher Carl Cohen is one of these advocates. Carl Cohen believes there are two categories that define an organism as a human. These categories pertain to a being’s cogniscience as a legal person and a moral person. There are two types of legal persons: natural and artificial. Natural legal persons refer to you and me any human in the world is a natural legal person. An artificial legal person is a body of men/woman who in the eyes of the law are seen as one e.g. A corporation is seen as one legal entity. Both these types of legal persons have legal responsibilities to uphold the law of the land and are responsible for their own actions. They are also given rights with these responsibilities and come under legal protection. Animals arent seen to have any legal responsibilities and, with no responsibilities, there can be no rights. As such, they cannot come under legal protection, effectively barring them from being classified as a legal person, natural or artificial. A moral person is much the same. They have moral responsibilities to look out for their community, and others around them, and also have the intellect and reason to make autonomous decisions and to object to things they believe are immoral. In agreeing with and putting these responsibilities into practice, they develop moral rights to have their decisions, feelings and value upheld by the communities they are morally responsible for. Animals lack all of these attributes, such as the ability to see right and wrong in their actions, and to be able to recognise their obligations and make a moral decision based on their responsibilities. Cohen himself explicitly states so when he says â€Å"Rights arise, and can be intelligibly defended, only among beings who actually do, or can, make moral claims against one another.† (1986) Humans may be subject to experimentation with their consent a choice they freely made and we, as moral persons, must respect, as they made the choice as a moral person. An animal cannot do this. It is impossible for an animal to give consent or withhold consent and equally as impossible for it to make a moral decision based on moral obligation and sense of right and wrong. It is therefore impossible to call them a moral person. Much like the legal persons classification, they are barred from all moral rights when they cannot comprehend moral obligation, and knowing what is right and wrong. Regan responds to Cohen’s analysis with an accusation of speciesism. Failing to protect the rights of animals due to their lack of moral attributes is exactly like condemning a retarded child for the absence of this same capacity. Using Cohen’s logic, because the retarded child lacks empathy and a sense of moral obligation, they deserve no moral rights at all. In the real world, however, this is quite the opposite. They are, in fact, given more protection as a result. Society provides services and facilities for them to live with fully-functional people, so they may live in a fulfilling manner. It is morally wrong, in modern society’s eyes, to discriminate against them due to their reduced brain function. For this reason, I see Cohens arguments to be, not only antiquated, but not in line with commonly held belief of 21st century society. It was published six years prior to Regans the Case for Animal Rights and, despite the fact that it doesnt seem like a long time, society’s views on animal rights have changed drastically since 1986. The animal rights movement is no longer considered as simply the views of â€Å"hippies† who should not be taken seriously. This movement has garnered a lot of support from the mainstream of society, and many scholars and lawyers have gotten behind it. Regan was one of the key factors in bringing the animal rights issue into the academic limelight, and it has subsequently flourished in the curriculum of many academic institutions, and has the support of senior legal scholars of Harvard Law Alan Dershowitz and Laurence Tribe. 92 out of 180 law schools in the US have now adopted the issue, and even have specific animal rights courses included as compulsory course requirements. The most enthusiastic adopters amongst the academic world are the philosophers, for it brings many deep questions to the surface and causes in us a realization of how cruel society can be, and how hypocritical we can be in our assigning of inherent value. Society has proven to be prone to prejudice and discrimination. As evidenced by the civil rights movement of 1960s America, it can take hundreds of years to achieve a state of equality. Regan’s rights view of â€Å"inherent value†, when viewed in the context of civil rights, has been shown to have immense value to all sectors of society, not only those who are the victims of prejudice. Society selectively applies this rights view to suit themselves. In contrast, Cohen’s rights view of assigning value based on conforming to preset categories of legal and moral personhood, seems to no longer be relevant to 21st century society’s beliefs. Regan himself addresses this view and draws comparisons to how society treats human beings of reduced mental capacity. If society is judged on how it defends those who cannot defend themselves, what justification do we have for failing to protect the welfare and rights of animals. In the time since Cohen published â€Å"The Case for the Use of Animals in Biomedical Research† in 1986, scholarship and academic attention on the subject of animal rights has grown immensely. No doubt, as more academics and philosophers add their own thoughts and research into the subject, we can expect to see our understanding of animals rights continue to change. Jonsson, P. 2001. Tracing an animal-rights philosophy. [online] Available at: http://www.csmonitor.com Encyclopedia Britannica. 2013. animal rights. [online] Available at: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/25760 Dershowitz, A. 2004. Rights from wrongs. New York: Basic Books Smith, W. 2010. A rat is a pig is a dog is a boy. New York, NY: Encounter Books. Regan, T. 1983. The case for animal rights. Berkeley: University of California Press. Cohen, C. 2012. The case for the use of animals in biomedical research. Arguing About Bioethics, p. 206.

Communication skills Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Communication skills - Case Study Example Additionally cars taxi also owns a garage to enhance maintenance and car wash services for its cabs. The Dubai expo 2020 is forecasted to enhance economic growth in the UAE region, just as the previous world expos have impacted their hosting places. Large population’s means increased demand, and if service providers capture this idea and plan to accommodate it, then sales ought to improve as well. Operating in the transport industry, cars taxi has strategized to make the best out of it. With many people streaming into the country, high quality transport provision would improve the events success. At the moment, Dubai is a highly populated emirate, which poses a risk of congestion. However, the government has improved the transportation sector facilitating various transport modes such public buses, cabs, trains and metro. Through inclusion of private sector, transport needs of the citizens have been catered for making it very efficient. Conversely the expo will see more than 25 million people stream to the emirate which is more than ten times Dubai population. As matter of fact, the population is too huge for Dubai’s real estate’s companies to accommodate; hence many will have to travel to lo other regions to look for accommodation. Moreover, most of them will use the opportunity to tour united emirates hence cab service demand is prospected increase by at least five hundred percent. These poses a problem of demand exceeding supply, not excluding congestion as it happened in china (Dai, Bao, Chen 2010)and the hectic queues and/or maybe traffic jam. Secondly, the population explosion contains people from all over the world and hence expects different attitudes, different cultures as well as morals and religion. Being used to the natives, cars taxi workers might mess up with some potential customers and thus literary disturb business (Wilson, 2013). Note that, following strict

Businesses and Society Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 15

Businesses and Society - Essay Example As the paper outlines they also need to meet other expenses such as food as well as other related bills from this same income. Against this backdrop, it can be noted that the basic problem addressed is that elderly people remain citizens of their given communities and they should be honoured and cushioned from paying high prices especially on drugs that are meant to save their lives from threatening diseases. The main concepts being addressed here include the issue of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and that of morality which derives from the concept of ethics. There is need to balance the needs of the people in the society and the need for businesses to be profitable in a moral fashion. This paper highlights that Strydom suggests that â€Å"Social responsibility is the concept that maintains that businesses are part of the larger society in which they exist and are accountable to the society for their operations.† In other words, there is need for the organisations to strike a fine balance between the needs and interests of customers, needs of the environment and the need for businesses to realise their financial goals. This goes hand in hand with the concept of ethics, which is loosely defined as an attempt to distinguish between something that is morally good from bad. The issues of morality and social responsibility have gained prominence especially with regards to the ways businesses operate. There is need for businesses to establish goodwill with the values and norms of any given society it would be operating in as a way of promoting mutual understanding. The success of any given company would be determined by its willingness to observe the social norms of the areas it would be operating in.

Visual Anaysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Visual Anaysis - Essay Example One of the objectives of modern art is to express the artist’s thoughts and emotions by following what is deemed right by the artist wherein to cubists, form alone defines the subject thus, the use of geometric figures to bring out the form of the subject matter. Juan Gris, a Spanish cubist artist portrayed a self portrait of the bench marker of the cubism period, Pablo Picasso, in the vantage point of their contemporaries with the same vision in his work entitled Portrait of Pablo Picasso (The Art Institute of Chicago). The general form of the painting shows a man seated and exhibits him to be well dressed though not very recognizable for a viewer to really be sure of what details one can decipher from the painting. As what would have been expected from a cubist, Gris used a lot of lines, cubes and other geometric figures to bring out the three dimensional view of his subject however, distorting the real appearance of the image. Being called analytical, the cubist painters we re said to have analyzed their subject to come up with the products like the aforementioned art work and among others, Mandolin and Clarinet by Pablo Picasso and Armored Train in Action by Gino Severini.

Elise Smart's Problem Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Elise Smart's Problem - Essay Example As the discussion highlights the various factors that influence sustained performance (ability, motivation, resources, role clarity, reinforcement) are examined, as well as steps leaders can take in improving performance of those for whom they are responsible. Since Elise Smart was so sure about the rating of Ketchum, Elise will suggest that Ketchum will undergo further training and understanding of her position in the organization. Because of the appraisal that she was getting Darlene Ketchum maybe is assuming that she is still doing the right thing. But Elise Smart sees it in a different way. Ketchum is no longer functioning as what she was before. Maybe because of several factors the performance of Ketchum declines without her knowing it. Elise Smart must show proof and facts that her observation on Ketchum performance is valid and accurate. This study outlines that the case of Elise Smart in the Milleneum Insurance are quiet tough. Smart must be able to show proof and facts that Darlene Ketchum deserves to have a very low appraisal such as data on poor performance and other mistakes that Ketchum has committed to correlate it with Elise’s report. It will be hard for Smart to convince the organization since Ketchum was appraised before as to be one of the excellent employees of the company. The problem is how will Smart will be able to show that her assessment and observation to Ketchum is valid. In the company during appraisal Elise need to discuss the assessment made to Ketchum and she will sign the assessment form. The problem of Elise is that whether Darlene Ketchum will accept the evaluation or not. How will Elise show the appraisal if Ketchum still assumes that she will have the excellent rating? Darlene Ketchum needs to sign the said evaluation before Elise Smart will be able to forward it to the vice-presid ent.  

OBESITY Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

OBESITY - Essay Example By increasing awareness of the obesity epidemic in America we can begin to reverse the trend in weight gain. We need to re-evaluate the importance of healthy eating due to obesity that has become the second leading cause of preventable death in the U.S. It is strongly recommended that the government should enforce strict physical education program and dietary restriction in all schools to control the prevalence of obesity in the society. Nutritionists and researchers attribute poor dietary habits and lack of exercises as the major causes of obesity in the society (Bernard, 2007). These detrimental habits develop in the early stages of child development especially in schools. Therefore teaching the children early about obesity, benefits of exercises and healthy eating habits could play a major role in reducing incidents of obesity later in their lives. One of the challenges in this thesis is the fact that home environment plays a significant role in encouraging obesity and it is beyon d the government control .In order to motivate schools and homes to control this rise in obesity in children, it is important to provide teachers and parents with reliable information on what obesity actually is, how it affects the children and how to treat it. Obesity is defined in terms of body mass index (BMI), with the following quantities - DBMI 25-30 = overweight, BMI 30+ = obese and BMI 40+ or 100+ pounds over recommended weight = morbidly obese. As The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (2008)explains, obesity in not just a few extra pounds of weight that a person has, but it may indicate a problem developing. They explain that a â€Å"child is not considered obese until the weight is at least 10% higher than what is recommended for the height and body type†. Obesity can begin early, ages five and six. The frequency of the incidence of obesity in adolescents also is a cause of concern and indication of the need for addressing the issue. Figures for oc currence have been given by various concerned parties, particularly for the US. However the issue is a global one. The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry quotes figures between 16 and 33% of children and adolescents as being obese. Likewise, research has indicated that parents with obesity increases child's chances to also manifest the same chronic illness by 50 to 80% (AACAP, 2008). More detailed statistics are provided by Lawrence et al (2010) who show that the prevalence of overweight and obesity in children and adolescents as being three times higher than it was in the 1980s. They show by their figures how the problem is growing. According to their figures, prior to the 1980s the percentage of overweight and obese children was only 6.5% for children and 5% for adolescents. By 2004 however these figures increased to 18.8 % and 17.4 % respectively. In addition to these figures, 31% of children under age 18 are at risk of being overweight. Causes of Obesity: Poor e ating habits and lack of exercise are the two most commonly suggested causes of obesity. In addition, The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry suggests other factors including some medical illnesses such as endocrine or neurological problems and some

The health care in China Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

The health care in China - Research Paper Example The Chinese health care sector have had much reforms in the recent decades, still the urban and rural people are least satisfied to the health care facilities of the country. This can be mainly directed towards the poor implementation and lack of funding by the Chinese Ministry of health to the health centers located widely in the country. The rural population of China is faced with many health adversities and is struggling hard to get access to quality medical care due to the ignorance of the Chinese Ministry of Health. Only a proper funding from the government, and allocating and distributing health care resources intelligently can consistently upgrade the health and wellbeing of all the population of china. Topic: The Health Care in China Introduction China is a country which has recently reached tremendous heights in economical, social and educational scenarios. It is the nation with largest population in the whole world, and is still continuing to develop in all fields at a stag gering rate. However, in recent times, health care has been a subject of great interest for Chinese government as the social standard of the people in the country improved dramatically... It is seen that the economic and social development of china has not led to much change in the substantial growth of the health care sector of the country. ... ding to (Blumenthal,2005,pg.1165-1170) â€Å"After Mao Tse-tung and the Chinese Communist Party took control of China in 1949, they created a health care system that was typical of 20th-century communist societies that are now largely extinct†. Since China is a nation with wide geographical dimension, extraordinary energy and unimaginable size, the health care demand and expectation is highly demanding in the nation. The Chinese government has given attention in improving health care system recently, but comparing to other sectors the health sector is lagging far behind. Health Care in China Generally speaking, the health care system of any country should be very comprehensive and elaborate as it directly is concerned with the quality of living of its citizens. Health care is as important as any other sector of a developing nation, and it can be said that it is vital to the growth of the economic and social areas of the nation. If one look at the Chinese health care indicators , it can be analyzed that development in the rural sector of the nation is very undermined and underdeveloped. Although, the growth in the health care system has been increasing in the past decade, the recent reviews show that there had been a noticeable stagnation in the development of health sector. It is been noticed that the health care expenditure of the country has increased lately but when compared to developed and developing nations it is still at a low rate. As per (IBM,2006)â€Å" China spent 5.8percent of its GDP on health care in 2002, as compared to8 percent by Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)8 countries and 5 percent by other developing countries, such as South Africa (8.7 percent),Brazil (7.9 percent) and India (6.1 percent)†.It is unfortunate to know that,

Solid Objects Virginia Woolf Essay Example for Free

Solid Objects Virginia Woolf Essay Virginia Woolf The only thing that moved upon the vast semicircle of the beach was one small black spot. As it came nearer to the ribs and spine of the stranded pilchard boat, it became apparent from a certain tenuity in its blackness that this spot possessed four legs; and moment by moment it became more unmistakable that it was composed of the persons of two young men. Even thus in outline against the sand there was an unmistakable vitality in them; an indescribable vigour in the approach and withdrawal of the bodies, slight though it was, which proclaimed some violent argument issuing from the tiny mouths of the little round heads. This was corroborated on closer view by the repeated lunging of a walking–stick on the right–hand side. â€Å"You mean to tell me . . . You actually believe . . .† thus the walkingstick on the right–hand side next the waves seemed to be asserting as it cut long straight stripes upon the sand. â€Å"Politics be damned!† issued clearly from the body on the left–hand side, and, as these words were uttered, the mouths, noses, chins, little moustaches, tweed caps, rough boots, shooting coats, and check stockings of the two speakers became clearer and clearer; the smoke of their pipes went up into the air; nothing was so solid, so living, so hard, red, hirsute and virile as these two bodies for miles and miles of sea and sandhill. They flung themselves down by the six ribs and spine of the black pilchard boat. You know how the body seems to shake itself free from an argument, and to apologize for a mood of exaltation; flinging itself down and expressing in the looseness of its attitude a readiness to take up with something new—whatever it may be that comes next to hand. So Charles, whose stick had been slashing the beach for half a mile or so, began skimming flat pieces of slate over the water; and John, who had exclaimed â€Å"Politics be damned!† began burrowing his fingers down, down, into the sand. As his hand went further and further beyond the wrist, so that he had to hitch his sleeve a little higher, his eyes lost their intensity, or rather the background of thought and experience which gives an inscrutable depth to the eyes of grown people disappeared, leaving only the clear transparent surface, expressing nothing but wonder, which the eyes of young children display. No doubt the act of b urrowing in the sand had something to do with it. He remembered that, after digging for a little, the water oozes round your finger–tips; the hole then becomes a moat; a well; a spring; a secret channel to the sea. As he was choosing which of these things to make it, still working his fingers in the water, they curled round something hard—a full drop of solid matter—and gradually dislodged a large irregular lump, and brought it to the surface. When the sand coating was wiped off, a green tint appeared. It was a lump of glass, so thick as to be almost opaque; the smoothing of the sea had completely worn off any edge or shape, so that it was impossible to say whether it had been bottle, tumbler or window–pane; it was nothing but glass; it was almost a precious stone. You had only to enclose it in a rim of gold, or pierce it with a wire, and it became a jewel; part of a necklace, or a dull, green light upon a finger. Perhaps after all it was really a gem; something worn by a dark Princess trailing her finger in the water as she sat in the stern of the boat and listened to the slaves singing as they rowed her across the Bay. Or the oak sides of a sunk Elizabethan treasureâ€⠀œchest had split apart, and, rolled over and over, over and over, its emeralds had come at last to shore. John turned it in his hands; he held it to the light; he held it so that its irregular mass blotted out the body and extended right arm of his friend. The green thinned and thickened slightly as it was held against the sky or against the body. It pleased him; it puzzled him; it was so hard, so concentrated, so definite an object compared with the vague sea and the hazy shore. Now a sigh disturbed him—profound, final, making him aware that his friend Charles had thrown all the flat stones within reach, or had come to the conclusion that it was not worth while to throw them. They ate their sandwiches side by side. When they had done, and were shaking themselves and rising to their feet, John took the lump of glass and looked at it in silence. Charles looked at it too. But he saw immediately that it was not flat, and filling his pipe he said with the energy that dismisses a foolish strain of thought: â€Å"To return to what I was saying—† He did not see, or if he had seen would hardly have noticed, that John, after looking at the lump for a moment, as if in hesitation, slipped it inside his pocket. That impulse, too, may have been the impulse which leads a child to pick up one pebble on a path strewn with them, promising it a life of warmth and security upon the nursery mantelpiece, delighting in the sense of power and benignity which such an action confers, and believing that the heart of the stone leaps with joy when it sees itself chosen from a  million like it, to enjoy this bliss instead of a life of cold and wet upon the high road. â€Å"It might so easily have been any other of the millions of stones, but it was I, I, I!† Whether this thought or not was in John’s mind, the lump of glass had its place upon the mantelpiece, where it stood heavy upon a little pile of bills and letters and served not only as an excellent paper–weight, but also as a natural stopping place for the young man’s eyes when they wandered from his book. Looked at again and again half consciously by a mind thinking of something else, any object mixes itself so profoundly with the stuff of thought that it loses its actual form and recomposes itself a little differently in an ideal shape which haunts the brain when we least expect it. So John found himself attracted to the windows of curiosity shops when he was out walking, merely because he saw something which reminded him of the lump of glass. Anything, so long as it was an object of some kind, more or less round, perhaps with a dying flame deep sunk in its mass, anything—china, glass, amber, rock, marble—even the smooth oval egg of a prehistoric bird would do. He took, also, to keeping his eyes upon the ground, especially in the neighbourhood of waste land where the household refuse is thrown away. Such objects often occurred there—thrown away, of no use to anybody, shapeless, discarded. In a few months he had collected four or five specimens that took their place upon the mantelpiece. They were useful, too, for a man who is standing for Parliament upon the brink of a brilliant career has any number of papers to keep in order—addresses to constituents, declarations of policy, appeals for subscriptions, invitations to dinner, and so o n. One day, starting from his rooms in the Temple to catch a train in order to address his constituents, his eyes rested upon a remarkable object lying half–hidden in one of those little borders of grass which edge the bases of vast legal buildings. He could only touch it with the point of his stick through the railings; but he could see that it was a piece of china of the most remarkable shape, as nearly resembling a starfish as anything— shaped, or broken accidentally, into five irregular but unmistakable points. The colouring was mainly blue, but green stripes or spots of some kind overlaid the blue, and lines of crimson gave it a richness and lustre of the most attractive kind. John was determined to possess it; but the more he pushed, the further it receded. At length he was forced to go back to his rooms and improvise a wire ring attached to the end of a stick, with which, by dint of great care and skill, he finally drew the piece of china within reach of his hands. As he seized hold of it he exclaimed in triumph. At that moment the clock struck. It was out of the question that he should keep his appointment. The meeting was held without him. But how had the piece of china been broken into this remarkable shape? A careful examination put it beyond doubt that the star shape was accidental, which made it all the more strange, and it seemed unlikely that there should be another such in existence. Set at the opposite end of the mantelpiece from the lump of glass that had been dug from the sand, it looked like a creature from another world—freakish and fantastic as a harlequin. It seemed to be pirouetting through space, winking light like a fitful star. The contrast between the china so vivid and alert, and the glass so mute and contemplative, fascinated him, and wondering and amazed he asked himself how the two came to exist in the same world, let alone to stand upon the same narrow strip of marble in the same room. The question remained unanswered. He now began to haunt the places which are most prolific of broken china, such as pieces of waste land between railway lines, sites of demolished houses, and commons in the neighbourhood of London. But china is seldom thrown from a great height; it is one of the rarest of human actions. You have to find in conjunction a very high house, and a woman of such reckless impulse and passionate prejudice that she flings her jar or pot straight from the window without thought of who is below. Broken china was to be found in plenty, but broken in some trifling domestic accident, without purpose or character. Nevertheless, he was often astonished as he came to go into the question more deeply, by the immense variety of shapes to be found in London alone, and there was still more cause for wonder and speculation in the differences of qualities and designs. The finest specimens he would bring home and place upon his mantelpiece, where, however, their duty was mo re and more of an ornamental nature, since papers needing a weight to keep them down became scarcer and scarcer. He neglected his duties, perhaps, or discharged them absent–mindedly, or his constituents when they visited him were unfavourably impressed by the appearance of his mantelpiece. At any rate he was not elected to represent them in Parliament, and his friend Charles, taking it much to heart and hurrying to condole with him, found him so little cast down by the disaster that he could only suppose that it was too serious a matter for him to realize all at once. In truth, John had been that day to Barnes Common, and there under a furze bush had found a very remarkable piece of iron. It was almost identical with the glass in shape, massy and globular, but so cold and heavy, so black and metallic, that it was evidentlyalien to the earth and had its origin in one of the dead stars or was itself the cinder of a moon. It weighed his pocket down; it weighed the mantelpiece down; it radiated cold. And yet the meteorite stood upon the same ledge with the lump of glass and the star– shaped china. As his eyes passed from one to another, the determination to possess objects that even surpassed these tormented the young man. He devoted himself more and more resolutely to the search. If he had not been consumed by ambition and convinced that one day some newly–discovered rubbish heap would reward him, the disappointments he had suffered, let alone the fatigue and derision, would have made him give up the pursuit. Provided with a bag and a long stick fitted with an adaptable hook, he ransacked all deposits of earth; raked beneath matted tangles of scrub; searched all alleys and spaces between walls where he had learned to expect to find objects of this kind thrown away. As his standard became higher and his taste more severe the disappointments were innumerable, but always some gleam of hope, some piece of china or glass curiously marked or broken lured him on. Day after day passed. He was no longer young. His career—that is his political career—was a thing of the past. People gave up visiting him. He was too silent to be worth asking to dinner. He never talked to anyone about his serious ambitions; their lack of understanding was apparent in their behaviour. He leaned back in his chair now and watched Charles lift the stones on the mantelpiece a dozen times and put them down emphatically to mark what he was saying about the conduct of the Government, without once noticing their existence. â€Å"What was the truth of it, John?† asked Charles suddenly, turning and facing him. â€Å"What made you give it up like that all in a second?† â€Å"I’ve not given it up,† John replied. â€Å"But you’ve not the ghost of a chance now,† said Charles roughly. â€Å"I don’t agree with you there,† said John with conviction. Charles looked at him and was profoundly uneasy; the most extraordinary doubts possesse d him; he had aqueer sense that they were talking about different things. He looked round to find some relief for his horrible depression, but the disorderly appearance of the room depressed him still further. What was that stick, and the old carpet bag hanging against the wall? And then those stones? Looking at John, something fixed and distant in his expression alarmed him. He knew only too well that his mere appearance upon a platform was out of the question. â€Å"Pretty stones,† he said as cheerfully as he could; and saying that he had an appointment to keep, he left John—for ever.

US criminal justice system: case study

US criminal justice system: case study Introduction The criminal justice system of the United Statesis made up of three key institutions that follow up a case from the arrest to punishment. These institutions include the law enforcement, the court system and the corrections system that work together to enable a sooth process from arrest to sentencing. A case normally begins with law enforcement agencies that investigate a crime and arrest an offender enhancing public safety and maintaining order. The case then continues with the court system that analyzes the evidence and decides on whether the accused is innocent or guilty. The corrections system then takes over the case by punishing and rehabilitating the offenders. The three components of the criminal justice system therefore play a critical role in the criminal justice process and without one component, the system would come to a halt(Sorensen, Snell and Rodriguez, 2006). This research paper discusses how the criminal justice works and the processes involved in solving the case st udy 1 that involves murder. This paper also discusses the weakest and the strongest linksin the criminal justice process. A brief description of the crime The murder occurred at 114 Front Street whereby police found two bodies of Lucy Lane laying dead at the 114 Front Street driveway and Rodney Hill on the dead in the rear of the house. The police discovered the two bodies in response to a 911 call by John Wolf of 115 Front Street. Ms. Lane had multiple stab wounds from the front and rear torso while Mr. Hill had multiple stab wounds to his chest and abdomen. According to Mr. Wolf, he had heard a commotion at the house across the street from the front yard. This was later followed by yelling and shouting for several minutes which were ended by a terrible scream. From his window, Mr. Wolf saw Mr. James Lane, a former resident drive away in a Ford Bronco. He called the police when he saw a body lying still on the driveway across the street. Police investigations confirmed that Ms. Lane did own the house at 114 Front Street and that she and Mr. Hill had been in an intimate relationship for months. Ms. Lane was recently divorced from Mr. Lane and on the day of the murder, Ms. Lane had obtained a restriction order against James Lane alleging prior physical and emotion abuse and threats against her and Rodney Hill. Mr. Lane denied killing his ex-wife and Mr. Hill following interrogations by the police and he could not explain his whereabouts during the incidences. A search warrant in Mr. Lane’s house discovered a six-inch lock-blade knife in a dresser drawer and clothing in the basement that appeared to be soaked in blood. Following scientific tests, the blood on the clothing were found to match the blood type and DNA of both Lucy Lane and Rodney Hill. The knife also gave the same results for the blood samples. This evidence led to the arrest of Mr. Lane for the murder of Lucy Lane and Rodney Hill. Processes in the adult American criminal justice system This murder case involves the state against James Lane for the murder of Lucy Lane and Rodney Hill. The correct due process of the criminal justice system in this case starts by the lawful arrest of Mr. James Lane as the police officers have reasons to believe that he committed the offence. The witness statement by Mr. Wolf, the relationship between the deceased and the suspect as well as the six-inch blade and the clothing with blood are the incriminating evidence against Mr. Lane. Once Mr. Lane has been arrested, the witness who is Mr. Wolf may identify him and make a statement with the law enforcers. the police officers will search Mr. Lane and the officers will have a warrant to seize any piece of evidence discovered in the search. theevidence to be collected will be the proceeds of the crime from Mr. Wolf’s statement, the six-inch blade and the clothing with blood stains. Other items that will be collected that connect the defendant with the murder will be the scientific tests that match the blood stains on the clothing and blade with that of the murder victims. Once the defendant is arrested, the police will take his fingerprints, prepare the arrest report, as well as other police forms like the complaint report(Wolfgang, 1990). Once the arrest has been made, the court system shall take over the murder case. The prosecutor decides to prosecute the case based on the amount and validity of the evidence. The prosecutor will be representing the state and the murder victims while the defense attorney will be representing Mr. Lane. The courts act as the guardian of the constitution and so accord the accused with rights under the US bill of rights. There are therefore several restrictions on the court’s ability to prosecute the murder case against Mr. Lane. Other restrictions will be the right to a jury trial, right against self-incrimination and a right to counsel. A court judge will then decide the terms of the bail for this murder case of which it is likely to be $ 2 million dollars based on the nature of the case. The defendant has chosen to plead not guilty and hence he will have a counsel and a jury trial for the case. The defendant has the right to choose an attorney who will represent him if he can afford one and if he cannot, the court will appoint the counsel. Mr. Wolf will be convicted of two accounts of second degree because Ms. Lane was recently divorced from Mr. Lane, Mr. Lane had been physically and emotionally abusing Ms. Lane and even issue threats against Ms. Lane and Mr. Hill, and that Ms. Lane had obtained a restriction against Mr. Lane. After the jury finds Mr. Hill guilty of second-degree murder, the sentencing is passed. Based on the mitigating factors, the offender’s history and the federal statute criminalizing second-degree murder, Mr. Lane will be sentenced to a minimum of 40 years institutionalized jail term. An alternative sentencing would be a life term with parole possibilities(Sorensen, Snell and Rodriguez, 2006). After the sentencing, James Lane will move to third part of the criminal justice process that is correctional agencies. The correctional agencies include the system of probation including prisons, parole or jails. From the courts, Mr. Lane will be sent to a reception center from where he will be transferred to a correction institution. The classification score will be processed at the reception center based on the length of the sentence, Mr. Lane’s occupation and stability. Mr. Lane will serve his sentence at a state prison, but the classification score might change over time based on the Mr. lane’s behavior and other case factors. In the corrections department, Mr. Lane will undergo educational and vocational programs that will earn him work time credits and if he is in best behavior, he will continue to participate in the programs. Once Mr. Lane completes his sentence, he will be released under the state supervision. The state parole will require Mr. Lane to follow pa role conditions like not contacting the victims’ family or the witness(Wolfgang, 1990). The weakest and strongest links in the criminal justice process All the three components of the criminal justice system play a critical role in the process. The correctional agencies are definitely the weakest link in the criminal justice system. The correctional system in the US is afflicted by overcrowding and failure to rehabilitate criminals. The prison population explosion in the American correctional facilities is mainly due to tougher criminal laws that have seen more people being sentenced to prison. Despite this growing population , the correctional facilities have failed to keep up with services and rehabilitation programs for the inmates. Research shows that it is difficult to fully rehabilitate offenders in the correctional facilities. This has been witnessed byincreasing number of offenses after institutionalization of an offender. The correctional system will therefore need to adopt rehabilitation techniques that work best to rehabilitate offenders. The strongest link in the criminal justice system is the law enforcement agencies. The principle roles of the law enforcement agencies are criminal investigations, patrols, emergency response and crime prevention. The law enforcement agencies enforce all laws set by the federal government in the United States. This component of the justice system is the strongest link as it introduces the offenders to the process ensuring that there is law and order in the society. The US has more than 17,000 law enforcement agencies that employ close to a million officers. These agencies include sheriff’s departments, police departments, state police, and 50 agencies that enforce federal law. The diversity of the law enforcement agencies makes it efficient for the law enforcers to ensure law and order. Other than ensuring security for citizens and using all means to prevent crimes, the law enforcement agencies have been able to investigate criminal activities as well as arrest the offenders. For the murder case of Lucy Lane and Rodney Hill, the law enforcement agencies responded to the emergency call by Mr. Wolf, and they efficiently carried out investigations, collected evidence and arrested the accused. The law enforcement agencies bring offenders to justice by introducing them to the criminal justice system(Sorensen, Snell and Rodriguez, 2006). Conclusion In conclusion, all three components of the criminal justice system are equally important for the process. A case has to follow the whole process form arrest to sentencing that involves the three components. America would not need the law enforcement agencies if there were no courts to punish the offenders or place them in correctional facilities. Likewise, the society would not need the court system if there are no correctional facilities from where offenders can serve jail term and punishment. In order to ensure a smooth criminal justice system, all the three agencies involved need to work together so as to ensure the common role of maintaining law and order(Wolfgang, 1990). Throughout the criminal justice process, there are constitutional protections that ensure the respect of the rights of the accused and offenders. These protections will enable the criminal justice system to arrest, punish and rehabilitate James Lane based on the fundamental rights. This research paper discusses the parts and processes of the criminal justice system together with the strongest and weakest links and how a murder case is solved. References Sorensen, J., Snell, C. and Rodriguez, J. (2006) An Assessment of Criminal Justice and Criminology Journal Prestige, Journal of Criminal Justice Education, 17:297-322. Wolfgang, M. (1990).Crime and Punishment in Renaissance Florence.Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology (Northwestern University) 81 (3): 567–84.